Clackamas county Sheriff & Fire Phase II Upgrade Encryption question

[azagel]

I was hoping to create a broadcastify feed for Clackamas County fire and in the future the Law enforcement side in the next month or so. I have been discussing the upgrade of CCOM system with a knowledgeable source in preparation of creating the feed. This person stated that CCOM and municipalities are looking at encrypting Law channels and potentially the Fire channels.

One statement that was said was that many of the local departments are going to encrypt their channels. I have a couple of questions with regards to this.

1. Has anyone heard if Portland and other municipalities are going to encrypt channels?
2. (Statement) My background is photo journalism. Would a feed for both Clackamas Fire and Law benefit the public now and when discontinue feeds when encryption take place.
3. Does the encryption happen when the radio is keyed back to dispatch and you can only here what was sent out from dispatch?

Would like some feedback as I would purchase a inexpensive Phase 1 base instead of the more expensive Phase II.

Thanks

 

[cinsu]

I can only partially answer number 3.

This depends on the configuration of the system. A talkgroup can be programmed as always encrypted or user selectable. In general agencies will choose to either always encrypt or never encrypt to remove potential user error.

As Portland has already started using their P25 system with primary talk groups unencrypted I do not think it's likely they would suddenly choose to encrypt those groups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ORE007]

The encryption won't happen for a while until the new system is up projected sometime in 2019 but a lot has to be done for this. Currently you already have a Clackamas County fire feed and a Lake Oswego fire feed so not sure if that would benefit. No law feed is in place so that one would be helpful.

 

[Fielder3]

Digital PDX area

Saw this yesterday regarding CRESA 911 Vancouver.

CRESA switches dispatches services to digital | The Columbian

 

[PMJ2kx]

The encryption won't happen for a while until the new system is up projected sometime in 2019 but a lot has to be done for this. Currently you already have a Clackamas County fire feed and a Lake Oswego fire feed so not sure if that would benefit. No law feed is in place so that one would be helpful.

Broadcastify only shows the Lake Oswego feed - the Clackamas feed no longer exists

 

[rosecitytransit]

I've been wanting to ask the person who formerly hosted the Clackamas (and Multnomah) County feeds and see if I could help him get at least one started again. But if you want to do it, instead of using an expensive digital scanner that might become useless, get a couple of the ~$20 SDRs and use those.
https://forums.radioreference.com/software-defined-radio/

This is an old how-to guide, UniTrunker now supports SDRs directly so SDRSharp is only needed for initial calibration and Cygwin and the DLLs aren't needed at all. I could help you if wanted, I almost have a Washington County feed going (albeit not digital, but that's just a few extra steps).
How to Make a $19 Police Radio Scanner: 22 Steps

 

[rosecitytransit]

Saw this yesterday regarding CRESA 911 Vancouver.

CRESA switches dispatches services to digital | The Columbian

Darn. Though at least the Vancouver Police Chief has a not-totally-unreasonable view on encryption. But it would be good of them if they would let news media (e.g. The Columbian) and possibly other trusted parties listen in.

 

[ORE007]

Broadcastify only shows the Lake Oswego feed - the Clackamas feed no longer exists

I had not noticed that. So I guess a Clack Fire feed would be good too 😁

 

[vansigint98661]

I thought it was in the story (full disclosure by the paper) that they were leasing a radio for the system. I suspect this then keeps the paper from saying they are cutting off the right ot the people to know what's happening. (In other words, they then keep their mouths shut about everyone loosing the right to listen for fear they will lose the "privilege" ). I did ask an engineer however whether these system allow the ability to selectively shut off a radio, and their answer was yes. Thus they still control what is to be heard and reported. "Big Brother" reporting. Anyway, it was in one of their stories that CRESA magnanimously, is letting them "lease" a radio. Many of us over there are hoping that not all agencies will go along with it, and they did say Fire would not be, just Law Enforcement.

 

[OregonScanner]

According to this Clackamas C800 Radio Group Board Meeting Agenda from last year, Clackamas County doesn't have a strong desire to go full blown encrypted. Bad news, it says WCCCA wants to encrypt all police and fire including dispatch.

Encryption talk starts on page 5:

http://www.c800.org/wp-content/uploads/C800-Packet-for-8-10-16.pdf

 

[rosecitytransit]

I thought it was in the story (full disclosure by the paper) that they were leasing a radio for the system.

It was pointed out to me in the Washington forum thread that it was: https://forums.radioreference.com/w.../352631-cresa-digital-system.html#post2774241

As I said there, the solution is to either allow vetted members to listen (e.g. the alerts group), or even better, host an official feed that's delayed by, say, 10 minutes and in extreme situations can be easily shut off temporarily by someone at dispatch. We're not talking about SWAT here, just keeping stuff from bad apples/bad guys. And the delay could actually allow people who only listen when something is happening to hear the initial call.

Also:
-joescanner, who used to host the Clackamas police and fire feeds (and the Multnomah ones) told me the computer died and, along with other life events happening, hasn't resurrected them.
-I don't see any reason why fire channels need to be encrypted.

 

[Baker845]

All those People at WCCCA have no idea what encryption even means. Encryption on Fire channels is just crazy. There's no need for it on fire channels. Law channels like SERT/SWAT and TAC channels makes sense, but encrypting everything is not smart.

 

[azagel]

Thanks everyone for the input and comments.

As for the SDR idea @rosecitytransit, I have a SDR and I have never been able to get a strong signal using it. I have even tried getting the local FM stations to come in and have not been successful.

 

[rosecitytransit]

Have you tried asking in the Software Defined Radio or Voice/Control Channel Decoding Software forums?

 

[mikeph4]

I think the encryption is totally uncalled for. There's a big group of people on Facebook who are continually sending letters over the matter. Only for swat and related things should encryption even be considered. Otherwise it's just one more step of a public agency turning private unfortunately. I'm sure we'll be in the dark for ever listening again, as most agencies don't have the citizens in mind when making the decision.